Today in History

Today is Easter Sunday, March 31, the 90th day of 2013. There are 275 days left in the year.

Today's Highlight in History:

On March 31, 1943, "Oklahoma!," the first musical play by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, opened on Broadway.

On this date:

In 1889, French engineer Gustave Eiffel unfurled the French tricolor from atop the Eiffel Tower, officially marking its completion.

In 1913, American financier J.P. Morgan died in Rome at age 75.

In 1931, Notre Dame college football coach Knute Rockne, 43, was killed in the crash of a TWA plane in Bazaar, Kan.

In 1933, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Emergency Conservation Work Act, which created the Civilian Conservation Corps.

In 1949, Newfoundland (now called Newfoundland and Labrador) entered confederation as Canada's tenth province.

In 1953, Stanley Kubrick's first feature, a war drama titled "Fear and Desire," premiered in New York.

In 1968, President Lyndon B. Johnson stunned the country by announcing he would not seek re-election.

In 1976, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled that Karen Ann Quinlan, who was in a persistent vegetative state, could be disconnected from her respirator. (Quinlan, who remained unconscious, died in 1985.)

In 1986, 167 people died when a Mexicana Airlines Boeing 727 crashed in a remote mountainous region of Mexico.

In 1993, actor Brandon Lee, 28, was accidentally shot to death during the filming of a movie in Wilmington, N.C., when he was hit by a bullet fragment that had been lodged inside a prop gun. "Star Dust" lyricist Mitchell Parish, 92, died in New York.

In 1995, Mexican-American singer Selena Quintanilla-Perez, 23, was shot to death in Corpus Christi, Texas, by the founder of her fan club, Yolanda Saldivar, who was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison.

In 2005, Terri Schiavo, 41, died at a hospice in Pinellas Park, Fla., 13 days after her feeding tube was removed in a wrenching right-to-die dispute.

Ten years ago: American forces battled Iraqi defenders in fierce street fighting 50 miles south of Baghdad, pointing toward a drive on the capital. Seven Iraqi women and children were killed by U.S. troops at an Army checkpoint when their van refused orders to stop.

Five years ago: HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson announced his resignation amid the wreckage of the national housing crisis. A Bahamas jury ruled that Anna Nicole Smith's son, Daniel, died from an accidental drug overdose, just like his mother. American movie director Jules Dassin, whose Greek wife, Melina Mercouri, starred in his hit movie "Never on Sunday" and six more of his films, died in Athens at age 96.

One year ago: Hundreds of world landmarks from Berlin's Brandenburg Gate to the Great Wall of China went dark as part of a global effort to highlight climate change. Carolina Kostner of Italy won the ladies' world figure skating title while Patrick Chan of Canada captured the men's title in Nice, France. Brittney Griner was named The Associated Press' women's college basketball Player of the Year, the first Baylor player to win the award.

Today's Birthdays: Actor William Daniels is 86. Hockey Hall-of-Famer Gordie Howe is 85. Actor Richard Chamberlain is 79. Actress Shirley Jones is 79. Country singer-songwriter John D. Loudermilk is 79. Musician Herb Alpert is 78. Senate President Pro Tempore Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., is 73. Former U.S. Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., is 73. Actor Christopher Walken is 70. Comedian Gabe Kaplan is 68. Former Vice President Al Gore is 65. Author David Eisenhower is 65. Actress Rhea Perlman is 65. Actor Ed Marinaro is 63. Rock musician Angus Young (AC/DC) is 58. Actor Marc McClure is 56. Actor William McNamara is 48. Alt-country musician Bob Crawford (The Avett Brothers) is 42. Actor Ewan McGregor is 42. Rapper Tony Yayo is 35. Actress Kate Micucci is 33. Jazz musician Christian Scott is 30. Pop musician Jack Antonoff (fun.) is 29. Actress Jessica Szohr is 28.

Thought for Today: "So often we rob tomorrow's memories by today's economies." -- John Mason Brown, American critic and lecturer (1900-1969).

Copyright 2013, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.